69. The End of Revenge

“Does the concept of family even exist for you, Aunt? You’ve been diligently preparing to push anyone off a cliff if necessary.”

“What are you saying, Soohyun? Don’t be so cold to family.”

“Aunt. To dare say I’m being cold in front of me, have you already forgotten the past?”

“The past? What...”

“Did you think I didn’t know that you instigated and helped Chairman Park torment my mother?”

“So, Soohyun, you’re mistaken. It’s a misunderstanding...”

“A misunderstanding, you say? I saw it with my own eyes. Keep trying to insist it was. Why? Did you think I was too young to know? Too young to remember?”

Watching Soohyun relentlessly corner her with eyes that seemed to devour her, Jae-eun realized that all her regrets were already too late.

Trembling, she bit her lip and looked at the crumpled paper in her hand and the thousands of documents scattered on the floor.

These were the things that Kang Yeon-hee’s son, whom she had sneered at for his powerlessness, had collected with gritted teeth to take revenge on her.

She should have known when the madness in his venomous eyes grew year by year. All those long years when she had just dismissed him as a crazy orphan, she should have realized that the bereaved beast was sharpening its claws, dreaming of revenge.

“Everyone here, if I release these materials one by one, you won’t just be socially buried, you’ll have to face a prosecutor’s investigation.”

“Do you think I, no, we, would just let that happen?”

Jae-hoon, who had been listening nearby, stepped forward, pointing his finger.

“How do you think I collected all this data? If you try to fight me, you’ll probably have to cut off your most trusted confidantes first. They’re all people I planted. Go ahead and try. You’ll have to start all over from scratch.”

Soohyun smirked and glared at Jae-hoon.

He had been following them for a full 10 years.

Taehoon had first collected evidence of his blood relatives’ corruption, and then Soohyun had joined in. Even with the siblings working together, it was impossible to overcome the evidence they had meticulously gathered over a long period without a single slip-up.

“The MKM Investment Trust that went bankrupt 10 years ago, that was your doing, Uncle.”

“That’s all in the past!”

“It’s not just the past. I recently met the person who handled the accounting books at the time.”

MKM Investment Trust was essentially a shell company that held Jae-hoon, his uncle’s, slush funds. He had been siphoning off company funds, laundering them privately, and accumulating them in offshore tax havens. Soohyun had detailed information up to the recent transactions.

“What?”

Soohyun ignored Jae-hoon’s reaction and picked up one of the papers on the floor to read.

“Laundering company money to privately buy back shares, and then illegally gifting them to your children through roundabout ways to evade taxes.”

Jae-hoon, whose slush fund’s flow and money laundering methods had been exposed in front of the entire family, was so flustered that he couldn’t speak.

Jae-eun and Jae-hoon, who had grown up only lording over others since they were young, completely lost their will to fight when they realized they were in a complete corner. It was a natural outcome since they had never fought anyone properly in the first place.

“Soohyun-ah. Please have some mercy on us. This isn’t right.”

Jae-eun slumped down among the documents detailing her weaknesses and stared at them blankly. Only then did Soohyun speak with an expression of having heard the answer he wanted.

“Hand over all the shares you hold.”

“What?”

“I’ll leave you enough to live on. Just the bare minimum.”

“So, Soohyun! You can’t do this. Not suddenly like this! Oppa, say something. Why are you just watching?”

“Hyung! How can you do this to your own family?”

Soohyun relentlessly blocked Jae-eun and Jae-hoon, who were blaming Taehoon, and continued speaking.

“This is already the most I’m willing to tolerate. If you want to see the deeper abyss, I’ll gladly show it to you.”

Soohyun’s emotionless gaze fell on Jae-eun, who was slumped at his feet. Even looking at his aunt kneeling before her nephew, Soohyun felt no pity.

He wanted to make them completely penniless and throw them out on the street, but Taehoon had strongly dissuaded him, so he was only leaving them enough to survive.

Shocked that their nephew had been meticulously tracking their actions for 10 years, the two readily accepted Soohyun’s words.

“Taesung will now bring in professional managers instead of incompetent family members. Of course, the name will also change. You can consider the Taesung you people here know as gone.”

“What?”

The flustered Jae-hoon and Jae-eun looked at Soohyun and asked simultaneously.

“What do you gain by doing that?”

When his aunt, who didn’t understand Soohyun’s words, asked, he answered without hesitation.

“I will completely break free from the name Park Yoon-hwa. I will get rid of all the imitators who resemble Park Yoon-hwa. Without a trace.”

________________________________________

“Soohyun-ah. Once all the work is done, the company named Taesung will disappear from Korea.”

Taehoon, who had rushed to the hospital upon hearing that there were unusual signs in Chairman Park’s condition, said with a sigh as he walked alongside Soohyun.

“It’s just proceeding according to the steps planned long ago.”

Soohyun answered, his emotionless face fixed straight ahead.

Once the shareholding arrangements were finalized and all of Park Yoon-hwa’s cronies and confidantes deeply rooted in the organization were filtered out, Taesung would be reborn with a new name, no longer the Taesung of the past.

The name ‘Taesung’ would truly remain only in people’s memories.

“Now that everything you wanted has come to pass, you must feel some relief.”

“......I wonder.”

Maintaining a dry tone, Soohyun opened the hospital room door and stepped inside, looking at Chairman Park lying on the bed.

Chairman Park merely blinked her open eyes from time to time, unable to move her body even slightly. The medical staff couldn’t definitively say whether Chairman Park had regained consciousness or was just opening her eyes in an unconscious state.

It was a pathetic end for someone who had commanded everyone and lived recklessly.

Click.

The attending professor, who had rushed over upon hearing that Taehoon and Soohyun had arrived, entered the hospital room and greeted them.

“Is she still unconscious?”

“Well, that’s...”

The professor spoke carefully with a serious expression.

“After conducting various tests since she opened her eyes, it seems she is conscious after all. However, she also seems to be hallucinating. As you can see, she is unable to speak.”

The doctor gave his opinion that a part of Chairman Park’s brain had stopped functioning, making it impossible for her to move parts of her body as she wished.

It was permanent damage from when she had fallen into the water. Simply put, she was in a state where she couldn’t make a sound even if she wanted to shout.

However, the fact that her pupils would sometimes dilate and she would break out in cold sweats made it clear that her mental state was not sound. Brain wave tests showed that Chairman Park’s brain was under extreme stress from constant stimulation.

“...Administering painkillers can temporarily reduce the stress on the brain, but if we miss other vital signs as a result, her life will be in danger. As you know, she is elderly and has a history of long-term medication use...”

The doctor trailed off.

“She’s conscious but can’t do anything...”

Soohyun repeated the doctor’s words and moved closer to Chairman Park.

Chairman Park’s pupils, which had only been blinking, shook violently and then turned cloudy. Her eyes, as if seeing something unreal, were clearly filled with terror, but not even a scream escaped her slightly parted lips.

She must surely be wandering in her own personal hell. Unable to even scream, she might be going mad in a nightmare she couldn’t wake from.

However, even seeing her sweaty forehead and bloodshot eyes, Soohyun felt no pity.

Do you finally understand what the abyss is?

Soohyun looked down at Chairman Park for a long time with emotionless eyes.

“What shall we do?”

The hesitant doctor looked at Taehoon and Soohyun and asked.

“Administering painkillers can alleviate the immediate pain, but it will be difficult to guarantee even today. What would you like us to do?”

Hearing the doctor’s words, Taehoon thought for a moment and then turned to Soohyun.

“What do you think?”

At Taehoon’s question, Soohyun chuckled softly.

“You’re saying the obvious. Our grandmother must live a long life.”

Soohyun picked up a towel from beside the bed and slowly wiped the sweat from Chairman Park’s forehead. Then, he brought his face close to Chairman Park’s and whispered.

“Just keep breathing here until the share transfer is complete. Blame yourself for not being able to do anything.”

As if she understood her grandson’s voice, Chairman Park’s unfocused eyes began to shake violently.

“Even if it’s a little difficult, you can endure it as much as you want, right? Isn’t all of this a way to save Taesung, which you so desperately wished for, Chairman? Ah, that’s right. Once the share transfer is complete, the name Taesung will disappear from this land. Just like your fleeting life.”

Chairman Park, conscious but unable to even make a sound, was no different from a soul trapped in a body.

Perhaps Chairman Park wanted him to free her from the immediate nightmare rather than live a long life. As if opposing Soohyun’s decision, her face instantly turned red, and her fingertips twitched.

But that was it. She couldn’t show any further movement.

“Please do not administer painkillers. Please take all measures to maintain her life for as long as possible.”

“Understood.”

Thump.

After the doctor left the room, Soohyun and Taehoon silently looked down at Chairman Park lying on the bed for a while.

Chairman Park rolled her pupils and blinked her eyelids rapidly, but neither her son nor her grandson reacted to her actions. Four indifferent eyes merely watched the old woman.

“Soohyun-ah. I hope this decision can alleviate even a little of the resentment in your heart.”

“......”

“But repaying evil with evil will only lead to more evil in the end.”

Soohyun, who had been about to dismiss Taehoon’s words as his father’s nagging, stopped walking and turned away from Taehoon.

“Father, do you perhaps... know where Haerin is?”

Several days after Haerin left the house, Soohyun had searched everywhere for her whereabouts, but he couldn’t even find a trace of her. Moreover, with Chairman Park in this state, even Secretary Seok had disappeared.

Following that connection led him to Vice Chairman Jung Taehoon, Soohyun’s father.

“Soohyun-ah.”

Soohyun’s gaze, which had turned away, quietly reached Taehoon. Taehoon didn’t answer whether he knew or not, but Soohyun already felt like he had heard the answer.

“Does Haerin still not want to see me?”

Facing Soohyun’s bitter expression, Taehoon looked at his son silently for a moment.

“The choice is entirely hers, Soohyun-ah.”

Leaving behind those cryptic words, Taehoon patted his son’s shoulder and left Soohyun alone in the hospital room.